Elderly Driver Father is Becoming Dangerous Behind the Wheel

by Anonymous

I met my father at his home the other day and I noticed a dent that looked as if he had hit a telephone pole. The half moon shaped dent went about three quarters of the way up the front of his pick up truck which meant he maybe hit one of those poles I see at the bank or convenience store, like that.

I have been noticing that we sways from side to side in the lane when I followed him to drop the truck off for an oil change a couple of weeks ago and he takes for granted looking from side to side when coming to an intersection.

I thought I would mention the noticeable dent in front and he exploded and said someone had bumped into him from behind and “pushed” his truck into the pole at the store. After this I walked out to the truck and looked and saw no damage in the back other than the bumps and scratches that have been adding up over the years.

In speaking with him again, shortly after the first talk we had, I said maybe it is time to give up driving and let us carry him around for errands and doctor’s appointments. His face got red and he said “we are not talking about this again, period”.

I looked into some elderly driver insurance that could maybe help if there is some kind of accident, the kind that is over and above regular insurance. Dad has a paid for home and a little bit of money that he needs for medicine, and every day living. Would not be good to loose what little he has....then I thought the money is one thing but to have an injury or something else happen to someone because of his driving at this late stage of life would be awful.

I have seen on the news about those elderly folks who drive through the store or beauty salon and hurt employees or shoppers and damage the property…..scares me and I think about it and sometimes I wake up thinking about it.